Classic Art Deco John Broadwood & Sons Upright Piano 1931

£22,995.00£14,495.00

This fantastic John Broadwood & Sons Upright Piano dates back to 1931, a product of the height of British Piano making period. Our in house team of Piano Experts have completely rebuilt the Piano’s mechanism, whilst still maintaining the aesthetic, feel and touch of the piano on its fist day of existence. This is a truly stunning piano, the pride and joy of our Workshop team, and with some truly unique features, a rare and precious creation of its time.

Has been completely rebuilt by our in house team at the A Hanna & Sons piano workshop.

Detailed Description

Classic Art Deco John Broadwood & Sons Upright Piano 1931

This John Broadwood & Sons Upright Piano has undergone a full rebuild back in 2013 by our restoration team based out of our Wimbledon Piano Workshop. The result is a piano that looks and feels like the day of its manufacture in 1931, with the reliability, and mechanism performance of a brand new acoustic piano. When we received the piano it was going to the recycling centre. We’re extremely proud to present it to you in as new, or even better, condition.

Normally only grand pianos use cast iron frame pressure bars, however, this piano has it too. The result of the John Broadwood & Sons piano makers experimenting, this features marks this piano out as rare and indeed collectable piano – sure to fascinate any piano maker and piano geeks out there.

We re-bronzed the iron frame as well as restored the paint and engraved text. We have also rebuilt the piano’s original soundboard, which was previously in a wrecked and severely damaged condition. Furthermore, we have rebuilt the piano’s bridges, brass studs on the bridges, installed a new pin block wrest plank. This piano has the lovely feature of having John Broadwood & Sons’s patent blazoned on the Iron frame ‘By Appointment Maker to the British Sovereigns from George II to George V’.

Our team replaced all the felts, leathers, cushions and tapes. We also installed new butt springs, jack springs, and damper strings. Our in house team have also fitted new hammer felts, key bushings, and key frame bases. Finally, the original 88 ivory & Ebony keys have been renovated. The complete rebuild of this John Broadwood & Sons Upright Piano is the culmination of 10 months ongoing work by our Piano Restoration team. It is as much a work of love and passion for antique pianos and piano restoration as it is a thorough and fantastic renovation project.

History of the piano

Thanks to John Broadwood & Sons’ thorough record keeping, we’ve been able to obtain from their archives the story of this piano’s production and early years.

Old Ford in Hackney made the piano as the company’s Stour Road workshop. Its production was completed on the 20th June 1931 and in the records it is described as model number 14, mahogany colour. John Broadwood & Sons’ factory had actually closed down earlier in the year (the original Broadwood company was liquidated in march 1931), so it seems this piano was completed by a few skilled members of staff that were kept on to finish off instruments still held in stock.

The workshop at Stour Road shipped the piano. It went to Leeds-based piano retailers, Hopkinsons Successors Ltd of Commercial Street, Leeds. Broadwood & Sons’ records even tell us that it was despatched from their premises in a Grimshaw and Evans lorry. They sold the piano due to liquidation together with 14 other upright pianos. The price was considerable low, at £31 and 4 Shillings each. The company’s liquidator Mr Alana Rae Smith was clearly aiming to reduce the price of available instruments still in stock to encourage sales and clear the factory floor as soon as possible. Unfortunately, after the 20th June 1931, this Upright piano disappears from the company’s records.

John Broadwood & Sons is one of the oldest and most prestigious piano companies in the world. Since George III in the eighteenth century, John Broad & Sons have been appointed Pianoforte Manufacturers. Burkat Shudi founded the company in 1728 and after his death in 1773 John Broadwood took over. For further information on the history of the John Broadwood & Sons Piano makers, please do visit their detailed and comprehensive history on their website.

Classic Antique John Broadwood & Sons Upright Piano 1931 Features

Complete rebuild completed in April 2013.

88 Keys all original Ivory and Ebony and renovated.

Unique feature of a cast irone frame with a pressure bar – a grand piano design frame in an upright.

Recent Articles

About the company

A. Hanna & Sons Pianos is a family run business in London. We stock a number of pianos which have been lovingly restored in our workshop. They are exquisite instruments; each one with its own unique sound and touch. We stock a range of new and second hand upright pianos, as well as digital pianos / keyboards.